Better Than (a) Wedding – the facts

There is a lot to be said for doing something your own way. Although both Mandi and I are aware of how much family and friends wanted to be with us on our wedding day and we regret disappointing them in any way, it is also supposed to be our day, and it was exactly what we wanted – it couldn’t have been more perfect.

We had a blessing from an old monk who meditated on our future and predicted that we would live past 108 and have three boys and two girls. We had the most breathtaking backdrop that anyone could ever imagine. We had each other in the country we love the most. We were able to share our love without worrying if others were having a good time, if the caterers had remembered the special food requests, if the DJ was going to show up and if the guests were getting bored while we had photographs taken! Although we were accompanied by all the boys from our trek (whose genuine happiness for us helped to make it extra special) in effect, it was just the two of us – and isn’t that what it is supposed to be about anyway?

Unfortunately, the one downside to all this is that it meant navigating Nepal’s infuriating bureaucracy and infrastructure – a real challenge. So for anyone who is thinking of getting married over there, here is a guide to what we had to go through….!

It started off simply enough. We had to fulfil a requirement of being resident somewhere in the last three months, for more than 21 days. Wherever that was, we needed to display notice of our intent to marry for a further 21 days. If we had gone to Nepal straight from home, we could easily have done this at the local registry office, but as we had been travelling we needed to find somewhere else. Luckily, our trip to Thailand was easily extendable to 21 days and so on the day we left Bangkok for Laos, we paid a visit to the British Embassy there and gave our notice. They then displayed this for 21 days in the embassy and after they received no objections from anyone, faxed the details through to the British Embassy in Kathmandu, which takes us on to the next step….

After arriving in Kathmandu, we visited the embassy and they used the information from Bangkok to issue a ‘letter of no impediment to marriage’. They also gave us copies of our declaration, affidavit and information that had been displayed in Bangkok. We would need copies of all of these for the process.

So far so good, but then we had to go to the CDO in Kathmandu and that was where the real fun began. The next two days involved a tortuous process of getting paperwork checked and rechecked in the various rooms of the CDO, then things being stamped, and then as we thought we were getting somewhere, being told we now needed to take everything and go to another place in Kathmandu to get further documentation. Unfortunately they don’t give you a list at the start of what you need so you end up just going back and forth in a seemingly endless loop. If anyone reading this is thinking of doing the same thing, it can be done, but allow 5 days of running around to be safe, and for the record, the following is what you’ll need to obtains:

• A letter from your hotel stating that you are staying there between certain dates (make sure it states that you will still be there 16 days after the initial date as this is when the registration should be completed).




• A letter from the Hanumandhoka police station in Kathmandu (near Durbar Sq) that will then need to be taken to the local police station near where you are staying and then back to Hanumandhoka for verification! This is just to confirm you don’t have a criminal record in Nepal,




• A completed registration from (you get this from room 11 in the CDO but will need help filling it in unless you can read Nepalese)




• A witness form (again get from CDO) signed by three witnesses who must then also be willing to go with you to the CDO later on to sign the register




• Your original passports with Nepalese visas




• At least 10 passport sized photos each

Once you have all of those items, take a lot of photocopies as you’ll have to give copies of everything to at least 5 separate rooms in the CDO. You will then have the fun process of running between the different departments (mainly rooms 11, 9, and 15) in the CDO, often having to come back the next day as the person you want to see isn’t there.

Contrary to information we read on the internet, once you have started this process and given in all the paperwork, you don’t have to stay in Kathmandu for the next 16 days and can go off trekking in that time. You’ll need the break after all that! However, when you do finally complete the process, you get to be legally married in the most stunning scenery on the planet and get a certificate in Nepalese and English to prove it (complete with an Everest stamp). Perfect.

Steve